Perseverance

In my iPod: Fields of Gold - Eva Cassidy version

It's a tough thing - being a sports fan. This weekend was a disappointing one for my teams. My poor Purdue Boilermakers, whom I curse again and again (I'm a verbally abusive fan), lost to Northern Illinois after losing LAST week to Oregon (getting off to a fantastic 1-2 start before even getting to Notre Dame and the Big Ten conference (no, I'm not bitter)). The Detroit Lions predictably choked again. (I technically traded them in to root for my husband's "team" - the Pittsburgh Steelers (excellent trade - in exchange, he roots for Red Wings over Penguins, which actually turned out to matter the last two years - more on that later . . .)), but you find you still start to care, even when you say you won't ... And, of course, my new team, the Steelers, missed TWO field goal attempts to earn the old "L" against the Bears. In short, it was a sucktastic sports weekend. Just plain awful. And the pain of watching three losses this weekend brings to mind the worst sports-related pain I've felt in a long time: The Detroit Red Wings losing the Stanley Cup in Game 7 at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins this summer. As much as I try to tell myself that the team performed quite well (in fact, as good as possible in the post season without actually winning the Cup), the fact remains that they lost - and after being oh so close ... I can't even watch the NBC sports trailers without wincing when I see Sid the Kid hoisting the Cup (it should have been Nicky Lidstrom (yeah, I'm not bitter)).

It's weekends like these that bring out a little bit of the pessimistic side in me (and make no mistake about it, there is one). I think about where I am in life and where I'm headed. I acknowledge that everything is relative and, all things are considered, I've been fortunate in life. I have a great husband and a beautiful daughter. Wonderful parents who allowed my daughter and me to bunk with them for two months while my husband was away. I'm not rich, but I can pay the bills (and even afford the occasional splurge). I'm in decent health. But I've never felt lucky. Instead of getting to stay in our beloved D.C., we're stuck in Del Rio, Texas, a place so desolate that it can't even keep one bookstore in business. We have no Starbucks, no Target. We don't even have a CVS ... Instead of getting that break and landing that overnight book deal, I wait. And wait ... And wait ...Still waiting ...

But then again, maybe being a sports fan is a good thing. Because no matter what happens, no matter how badly your team loses or how devastatingly close they were to winning, there's always hope. There's always another a chance. Because there's always next year.

So thank you, sports teams. Thank you for giving me next year. For encouraging me to persevere ...